Movie Review: Alice in Wonderland

I am not a fan of either Tim Burton or Johnny Depp, but I went into Alice in Wonderland trying to be as objective as possible. However, reviewing film necessarily eliminates the idea of objectivity, but I will only look at this one specific movie. Alice in Wonderland is a pseudo-sequel to the well known Disney movie. It takes a few cues from the story written by Lewis Carroll but everything in it has Burton’s look and style. Not long into the movie does Alice fall down the proverbial rabbit hole, and the movie starts to get weird.

The story of the movie is pretty good. Alice returns to Underland yet has no memory of ever being there as a child. The White Queen has been forced from rule by her sister, the Red Queen. The White Rabbit brought Alice back because they believe she has the power to stop the Red Queen’s tyrannical rule. It reminded me of Hook, where the hero is older and has to be convinced they are the one to stand up to evil. The only way to stop her rule, though, is to defeat the Jabberwocky.

Fans of Burton will eat up all the visual and wacky special effects the movie has to offer. The movie marketed Johnny Depp’s eccentric character so much you would think it should be called Mad Hatter in Burtonland. At times, the movie is somewhat too dark for young audiences, with creatures getting slashed and beheaded. One scene has miniture Alice hopping across a moat on the lopped off heads of the Red Queen’s enemies. By the time Alice comes around to accepting her role as Champion of the White Queen and faces the Jabberwocky, Alice in Wonderland goes back to losing anything that made it exceptional or artistic. As soon the Mad Hatter does his little jig (which sounds like a certain F-word, by the way), it tries to go back to being kiddy and fun. Burton and Depp fans will enjoy themselves, but anyone else watching it will find it pretty standard fare.

Fanboyz Grade: C+